Rocky IV, The survival of Apollo Creed
by Andrew Ronald Tarek Skywalker
Summary: Title is far more dramatic than it needs to be, basically, Apollo survives Rocky IV and it transitions to the scene where Rocky met Drago again in Creed II, but instead of Rocky its Apollo he meets with.


AN: This is an AU of the Rocky series really as there is a big change, Apollo Creed is still alive and boxing. How? Simply put, he changed his attitude towards the fight with Ivan Drago and survives the fight, whether he wins or not is not up for grabs yet and nothing else changes other than this and then it transitions into Creed 2. Enough of that shite, enjoy!

_Rocky Balboa's home, 1985_

"Hey Apollo, about this fight you're having with the Russian, would you like me to help in your training for the fight?" Rocky Balboa asked his former enemy, now best friend, Apollo Creed, Apollo turned to him with a raised brow.

"Why? What could he have that I don't? That might sound cocky but he's barely 27, has next to 0 boxing experience compared to me and his only fights until now have been in Russia, where he's number one due to match fixing," Apollo declared, Rocky smiled at the joke before his face turned serious.

"That maybe so, but Apollo, that kid is 6'4/6'5, has the personality of a stone and looks like he wants to go to war with you, like it or not your fighting technique and overall style might not be as effective on him as you think, you need to add a few things, train with the world champion perhaps?" Rocky couldn't resist a small jab at Apollo's pride, which before got a lot of anger from Apollo, now though it only got a good-natured eye roll.

"Alright, when do we begin?" Apollo asked.

Over the next few months, Rocky and Duke, Apollo's trainer have made a boxer that can dish out the pain to the head with the speed of Apollo, uses body shots with the finesse of Rocky and all with the power of Clubber Lang, but also they had to work on Apollo's resilience to pain and endurance. He'd fought while injured before yes, but they were being cautious since Ivan Drago was huge and while Apollo has fought opponents taller than him, none pack the same physique of Drago. In order to improve the pain tolerance of Apollo, Rocky suggested that they bring in the best fighters of their weight class that are of a similar build to Drago to test his limits, see what was good and what they needed to improve on.

By the time fight night had rolled around, Rocky and Duke were both very satisfied with how Apollo fought now and were confident that he could win the fight and if he didn't win, at least Apollo would come out without being too injured.

_Fight night, Las Vegas, 6 months later_

Apollo Creed marched out into the arena where he would be fighting Ivan Drago, Rocky and Duke were just ahead of him and in the crowd, he noticed his wife Mary Anne, she gave a smile and nod of support with the song "Living in America" being his entrance theme. Drago was there, wearing his usual face of boredom as they neared the ring.

"Remember the training we gave you for this fight Apollo," Rocky said, holding the ropes up for his friend to get into the ring, watching him tip his hat to Drago and smile charmingly, Rocky shook his head in amusement, some things never change, he mused as he and Duke sat ring side.

Apollo and Ivan stood staring at each other as the referee went over the rules, Apollo had given the hat to Rocky just after he tipped it to Drago.

"Touch gloves," the referee instructed, the fighters did so.

"You will lose," Ivan whispered ominously.

As the bell rang for the first round beginning, Ivan was immediately on the offensive swinging hard with 2 hooks that Creed slipped, Apollo went for a left jab that Drago shook off with no bother and as the round wore on, Apollo began to notice Ivan's preference for hooks than jabs or body shots and mentally noted that he needed to mention it to Duke and Rocky. Apollo began to get a foothold in that first round, landing nasty body shots to Drago's ribs and attempting to poke and prod at the younger fighter's pride which led Drago to attempt a sloppy right hook that sent him barrelling into the corner where Apollo was on him, leaving a cut near Ivan's left eye with his own right hook and that was when the bell sounded for the end of round 1.

"He seems to over exert himself," Rocky noted, dabbing Apollo's face with the towel that now had a small bit of blood from a successful shot Ivan landed near Apollo's right eye.

Round 2 began similarly, though Apollo Creed had the upper hand and Ivan Drago became a lot more frustrated during this round, he kept going for hooks, left and right but barely any of them fazed Apollo and after a minute into the round, Drago was panting heavily from the pain in his ribs and over exertion, Apollo noticed this and rushed him, driving him into the ropes and working the body, leaving the pale skin with red imprints on it and after a sloppy jab from Drago, Apollo made an uppercut that sent Ivan's gum shield flying and followed it up with a left hook that knocked him down.

Ivan struggled hard to get up, he had studied Apollo Creed's fighting technique before fighting him, but Apollo had come with a different set of tools entirely and it caught him off guard, completely and he lost to Creed by knockout, humiliating him big time.

Not long after Apollo Creed won the fight, he suggested to his old friend Rocky Balboa to challenge the poor bloke to a title fight in Russia, in order to make him and Russia really foam at the mouth. It was hosted on Christmas day 1985 and while the fight went on longer than Apollo expected, going to the 8th round, Rocky kept the title in his grasp and while a part of Apollo wanted that title back, the larger part of Apollo was happy for his friend and brother figure.

_33 years later, Los Angeles, Delphi boxing Gym_

"Boss?"

Apollo Creed looked up to see his secretary walking towards him and she looked rattled.

"What's wrong?" he asked in concern, all she did was direct him to a window, where an aged man stood with a younger man who looked similar to him, waiting for him. Apollo took the hint and exited the gym, noticing the hostility in the younger man's eyes and the reproaching eyes of the older man, Apollo raised a brow.

"May I help you?" he asked, the older man frowned.

"You don't recognise me?" he asked in his Russian accent, Apollo suddenly recognised the face of Ivan Drago.

"Ivan Drago, and this young man is…"

"My son, Viktor," Ivan finished, Apollo nodded and gestured for them to follow him into his office, once there Ivan turned to Viktor and asked if he could be left alone with Apollo.

"Why you in Los Angeles?" Apollo questioned; Ivan raised his eyebrows.

"You don't know?" he replied in surprise (cue TV report about the challenge to Adonis Creed that is practically the same except with the 1985 fight more in Creed's favour).

"People in this country, they love you and Balboa, in Russia, no one touches Drago name, everything changed after those fights," Ivan said reflectively, Apollo leaned forward.

"I don't remember forcing you to get in the ring with me or Rocky, did I? More to the point, why are you here if you're just going to bring up the past?" he asked sceptically, Ivan glared at him.

"'The past' is yesterday to me. Because of you and Balboa, I lose everything. Country, respect…wife," he explained, Apollo couldn't help feeling pitying Ivan slightly after hearing that.

"Ever see stray dogs in Ukraine? They go for days with no food, people spit on them, they have nothing, only will to survive, to fight." Ivan continued as he slowly raised his clenched fists.

"All Viktor knows, is this," he added on.

"My son will break your boy," Ivan warned ominously, Apollo couldn't help but chuckle slightly.

"You said the exact same thing to me before we fought, and you barely went to the second round and your speech about how stray dogs are treated in Ukraine is irrelevant because around here we put strays away," he replied, standing, Ivan followed suit and left with Viktor in tow.


End file.
